Farewell to Texas Stadium Bittersweet for Hotel Owners

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The owners of a nearby hotel have front-row seats to the stadium's final farewell.

The owners of a hotel in the shadow of Texas Stadium will have front-row seats to the venue's final farewell.

The Patels have owned the Day Inn across from the stadium for 18 years.

"All my relatives, every time they visit us, they're like, 'Oh my gosh, you guys are so lucky -- (an) awesome place right in front of the stadium,'" Meena Patel said. "(We've) been here 18 years, and that's a long time. Every morning eating breakfast to sleeping at night, and we see the stadium."

But the view from their breakfast nook will look different after 7 a.m. on Sunday, when the stadium is imploded.

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Business was good for years -- enough to put their kids through college, the couple said. Rooms were always sold out for Cowboys games, although business slowed when the team started playing in Arlington, Madan Patel said.

But calls started coming in for his more than 160 rooms when the date was set for the iconic stadium's implosion.

"(The) same night, (the) telephone started to ring," he said. "And then it took us about two weeks, and we were all sold out."

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The Patels will be there to watch the implosion, but the event will be bittersweet.

"(I'm) excited as far as the crowd and the business, but once it goes down, I'm sure we're going to have tears in the eyes," Madan Patel said.